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Posts Tagged: ubuntu

Tech News — 4 Comments
19
Mar 09

An unfortunate event – Linux losing to Microsoft

photo credit: geognerd

Netbooks are the class of laptops that have screens measuring from 7″ to 10″, have no CD or DVD-ROM and use a specially designed low power processor. Initially, these small and inexpensive laptops were released with different versions of Linux on them and they ran fast and ran well. Microsoft saw a huge potential loss in their market share and quickly used their muscle to interject themselves and Windows XP into this genre of computers.

In my opinion, Windows has no place in a netbook for the following reasons:

It adds cost to the machine. Although reports indicate that Microsoft has been losing money just to get their system installed on these machines instead of Linux.
It adds complexity to the machines by requiring users to keep up with endless security updates and configuration from Microsoft and other vendors. Linux, on the other hand, requires almost no maintenance once the initial setup is finished.
Windows requires as much RAM and processing power as you can throw at it…even XP now with Service Pack 3 plus all the security software that has to sit on top of it.
Linux offers Continue reading →

French police force save millions by using Ubuntu

This might be one of the largest government agencies making a whole sale change to Ubuntu and leaving Microsoft behind. Ubuntu Linux is a free open source operating system that can very capably replace a Microsoft Windows operating system. This article describes how France’s national police force will change all 90,000 of their computers to Ubuntu by 2015, and they have already saved more than $50 million dollars with their efforts so far.

French police: we saved millions of euros by adopting Ubuntu – Ars Technica.

Riding Shotgun with Rick / Ubuntu Tips — No Comments
12
Feb 09

Money management using Linux / Ubuntu

One of my customers desperately wants to hang on to an almost 10 year old computer. His Windows Me installation started showing its age almost three years ago, but he persevered. He mainly uses email, Internet, a word processor and Quicken to write checks and track his income and expenses for his small business.

After much discussion, he decided that he wanted to try Ubuntu. His machine sports 256mb of RAM (hey that was a ton in 1999) and a 1.5 ghz processor, so it falls well within reason for Ubuntu. The installation went smooth and I added a USB 2.0 card to support his multi-function printer and external hard drive. Of course the Internet and email are no problem with Ubuntu, and he and his wife love all the included games.

Porting his Quicken data and Quicken tendencies to Ubuntu remains the highest hurdle. I initially installed GnuCash thinking it would do all he needed to do, but on this older machine, GnuCash opened and operated extremely slowly. The interface turned out to be anything but user friendly, and it didn’t print checks very well. GnuCash did import his Quicken data without a hitch, but navigating the program takes a lot of patience and knowledge. Compared to the smooth and easy to understand interface of Quicken, GnuCash looked dated and too institutional.

After a little more research, I decided to install KMyMoney. KMyMoney installed quickly and opened quickly. Importing his .qif file from Quicken didn’t work so well, however. I ended up importing the GnuCash file. After the data came across, KMyMoney operated much smoother and sports an extremely user friendly interface. The standard reports are complete and easy to customize. The ledger system looked and functions much like Quicken. For my client, though, the caveat with KMyMoney was no print check utility. Ughh! After more research, it appears that the next version of KMyMoney will have check printing capabilities, but who knows when that will be. For anyone just wanting to manage their money in an easy and friendly environment, KMyMoney looks extremely capable, but if you want to print your checks, tough luck.

I thought, briefly, about installing his old Quicken program in the WINE environment (a Windows simulator of sorts), but after reading about the problems and extensive work and knowledge to get that going, I abandoned the idea.

I generally never get involved in financial programs, but took this project on for the learning experience and the ability to see what new ways I could stretch Ubuntu. In my opinion, Ubuntu still works best for Windows user who only use the Internet, email, word processing and digital photography. The only exception being computer users who have a passion for learning and don’t mind researching and trolling forums for answers and advice. This latest foray into Ubuntu did solidify my belief that many of these problems can be avoided through the use of online applications, Web 2.0. With Web 2.0, it doesn’t matter what the operating system is, with a browser and a high speed connection, your applications are available anywhere, anytime.

Riding Shotgun with Rick — 13 Comments
5
Feb 09

I want to be a Linux geek

Microsoft drove me into the world of Linux and its various flavors including Mint, Puppy, PC Linux OS, Dream, Damn Small, gOS and many more. This trek started two years ago (can you correlate that time frame?) and my veracity for learning it hasn’t ebbed one bit. In fact, I find the world of Linux more compelling every time I sit down and learn more about it. I’m writing this article from my Asus EeePC that runs a Linux derivative and its performance impresses me every time I use it.

I’m writing this article, however, to try and drum up some local support here in Western Colorado to start a Linux/Ubuntu users group. Everything I learn about Ubuntu and Linux comes from experimenting, using, and reading. I learn the best from watching others who are more knowledgeable than I. And thus the shout out for Linux nerds and wannabes like me. I can pick up more information and skill in one hour spent talking and watching a bigger geek than me than a whole week schlepping through online manuals, books, and bulletin boards.

I think many people learn the same way. Most of us seem to absorb more through demonstration and conversation than from solo learning. If you live in Western Colorado, specifically Grand Junction area, and would be interested in meeting once a month or so to learn and share information about Linux, please comment below and lets see where this project might take us.

Riding Shotgun with Rick / Ubuntu Tips — No Comments
26
Jan 09

Free Pocket Guide to Ubuntu

The author of Ubuntu Pocket Guide and Reference, Keir Thomas, made his book available for free in PDF format today (click here to download). If you tend to like your manuals and books in tangible book format, click here to get the $9.94, 166 page book version from Amazon.

Riding Shotgun with Rick / Videocasts — 2 Comments
25
Jan 09

Rick’s Answers his email Videocast – 029

This week’s email video brought to you by questions from Papa, Amy, Diana, Dan, Firat, Paul, John, Tina, Ernie, Sheila, Dave, Lisa, Bob, Shirley, and Iris. Their questions ranged from wanting to start a fan club to moving to Ubuntu and from nasty virus infections to how to install a DVD and much more!

Ubuntu Tips — No Comments
21
Jan 09

How to Add or Remove a program in Ubuntu – Video Tip

By now, you know that I have become smitten with Ubuntu (a Linux operating system). And in the right situation, I think it serves its users admirably. As packed as a new installation of Ubuntu is with productivity, graphics, Internet, and game software, you might want to add a new program. You cannot go to the store and purchased a new program and install it on an Ubuntu machine. Instead, you use the web and built-in tools found in Ubuntu to add or remove a program.

The first method I explain in the video is how to use the Synaptic Package Manager found by clicking System –> Administration –> Synaptic Package Manager from the menus.

The second method involves clicking the Applications menus then Add/Remove.

A high speed connection is really a must with Ubuntu to be able to try out some of the great software available and to get all of the available system updates as well.

Riding Shotgun with Rick — 17 Comments
11
Jan 09

Windows 7 – First Impressions

Windows 7 Desktop

I just finished installing the Windows 7 Beta version released by Microsoft on Friday. I installed it on my Toshiba Intel dual-core processor with 4 GB of RAM. It was running Windows Vista which took more than 4 minutes to fully boot (I consider the boot up process to be finished when the hard drive stops spinning and I don’t have to compete with a still booting computer to do what I want to do), and running any applications was like walking through molasses. I can say that my expectations were pretty low, but I am pleasantly surprised…so far.

It took exactly 21 minutes from when I inserted the install DVD until I reached a workable desktop. Very impressive! The setup was painless and required very little input. In fact, it was so easy, I think that the folks at Microsoft must have taken a page out of the Linux/Ubuntu installs. It was easily the fastest and easiest install of any version of Windows. I hope it doesn’t change much with the final version.
Bootup time is faster than Vista too. With my fresh install of Windows 7 and no security software, boot time was just under 2 minutes.
Overall, the new OS feels snappy and clean. I haven’t seen any User Account Control (UAC) pop-ups yet.
On my Toshiba laptop, like Linux, I didn’t have to install a single driver. Once the quick install finished, my wireless, Ethernet, sound, video, SD card, and web cam all worked perfectly.
Microsoft has revamped and simplified the wireless connectivity…again very Ubuntuish in my opinion.
This beta version of Windows 7 also includes the new Internet Explorer 8 which doesn’t feel much different than 8, but is supposed to be more compatible and flexible than 7. I will test it a little, but still prefer Firefox. I will probably install Google Chrome as well to see how it runs in Windows 7.
The revamped Start menu has a new feature that when you hover on a recently used program it will also present to you your most recently used documents for that program. Nice.
The taskbar has also been changed, but I need to work with it some more before deciding exactly how those features affect uability and productivity.
I plan on installing AVG or Avast antivirus and OpenOffice to test them and will report more about speed and usability.

I’m writing this article and took the two screenshots in Windows 7 using the Snipping Tool introduced with Vista. I did use picnik.com to edit the photos, however, since the updated Paint program, although it does have a new Crop and Resize feature, the resize feature doesn’t have much flexibility.

Stay tuned for more articles about Windows 7 leading up to its release later this year, or early next year. If there are questions YOU have about Windows 7, leave a comment below and I will test them out for you.

Windows 7 taskbar

Riding Shotgun with Rick — No Comments
29
Dec 08

Don’t buy a new computer yet

2009 is upon us and computer prices are incredibly low, but if you can wait a year to buy a new computer, I would highly recommend it. Why? Microsoft plans on releasing the next version of Windows either late in 2009 or early in 2010. All indications point to the earlier release since Microsoft is anxious to bury Vista.

Last week, Microsoft extended the life of Windows XP for a fifth time! This indicates the continued reluctance (especially in the business world) to adopt Windows Vista. Currently, you can get XP installed on a new computer only through Dell’s business web site and through some independent builders. Buying a copy of Windows XP from limited vendors doesn’t help much either since so many of the new computers out there today don’t ship with or have Windows XP drivers available for video, audio, Ethernet and other hardware components.

I still firmly believe that if you don’t use any Windows specialty software and tend to use your computer only for email, Internet, digital photography, word processing, and games, you should seriously think about an Apple computer or installing Linux/Ubuntu on a new or existing computer an bypass Windows altogether. If you don’t want to follow that advice or need specialty Windows software, stay with what you have for another year until Windows 7 is released.

The beta (test) versions of Windows 7 are being released now, and I plan to install and keep up with them in the next couple of months. Keep your eye on the site for more information on Windows 7 as I learn more.

Riding Shotgun with Rick — 5 Comments
18
Dec 08

Thwarted by online poker

Today marked my second Linux/Ubuntu casualty in almost 2 dozen attempts. As I’ve learned more about Ubuntu the past couple of years, I carefully selected clients who would have little problems dealing with a non-Microsoft operating system.

You may have read my take on Ubuntu usage for the average computer user before, but here it is again to setup the rest of the story: I believe that any computer users who uses only email, word processing, Internet, digital photography, and maybe a solitaire or mahjong like game can function perfectly and happily in Ubuntu. Those who need proprietary Windows programs or like to buy and try out different types of software will not do well with Ubuntu.

OK, that being said, I consulted on the purchase of an Acer mini-desktop about 2 weeks ago from a local big box. It had a fast AMD processor, 4 GB of RAM, and a 320 GB hard drive and of course pre-loaded with Vista. I took the system home and booted into Windows to create the restore DVD set just in case. To fully boot into Vista took approximately 3:30. At initial boot, it took the computer nearly 19 minutes to finish whatever a Vista computer has to finish when you first take it out of the box.

After completing the DVD recovery set, I inserted my Ubuntu 8.10 CD and restarted the system. Literally 15 minutes later I was browsing the web in Ubuntu after the install CD wiped the hard drive, installed itself, shut down and rebooted. Later I timed the Ubuntu startup time: 49 seconds.

Anyway, the folks who I setup this computer for could not play online poker with Ubuntu. After some quick research, the service they use (I forgot which one), is the ONLY online poker service that needs a Windows download. I could have installed and configured the poker service to work under Wine in Ubuntu, bud didn’t. After hearing that “everything is different”, and they wanted to install Windows based software that was never mentioned before today, I inserted the first Vista recovery CD and showed them how to finish it up. They brought the computer back to the big box for a refund and ordered a Dell with XP and probably spent twice as much as the Acer.

My first Ubuntu failure was a couple of years ago and ended because the woman missed her AOL software and didn’t like using AOL web mail in Firefox. Being approximated 21 for 23 on my Ubuntu converts isn’t bad, and is actually kind of humorous that the two defeats were at the hands of AOL and online poker.